PROJECTS

FILMS

OTHER WORKS

ORLANDO ODER EINE KURZE GESCHICHTE DER MITTELKLASSE

(ORLANDO - OR A LITTLE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE CLASS)

by Jelena Jeremejewa & Catalina Flórez

Germany / 42 min / Color & B/W / archival material / Documentary / 2023

The protagonist of Virginia Woolf's Orlando was born a man. But, after thirty years of life, he wakes up as a woman and his previous perspective changes radically. Similarly, this personal film essay changes the perspective from which a middle-class story is usually presented. When you are neither rich nor poor, you struggle with the problem of identity all your life. All the more so if you are also a woman struggling for your rights, education, and financial independence. Inspired by Daniela Dröscher's text, the film is not only about growing up in West Germany but more generally about the difficulties of social mobility for those who are not heterosexual men.

“It took a long time for me to realize that I'm from a lower-middle-class family, from the petit bourgeois. For some time, I didn't know what to call my social position.”

*With the kind support of Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus Supported by funds from Hauptstadtkulturfonds.

FRANCOS ERBE - Spanien gestohlene Kinder
(FRANCO'S LEGACY – Spain’s Stolen Children)

by Inga Bremer

Germany / 75 min - 52 min / Color / HD / Documentary / 2016

During Franco’s dictatorship and right up until the 1990s, babies were taken away from their unknowing parents after their birth, to be sold. Doctors, nuns, priests, social carers, and nurses were involved. 

Enrique Vila Torres (51) is an attorney from Valencia. The fight for justice for the victims has become his life’s work. 

Alfonsa (43) gives birth to her first child aged 14. But the baby is stillborn. Over 27 years later, her daughter suddenly appears - alive. 

Alicia (42) is looking for her roots. When the adoptive father dies, paperwork suddenly emerges. It shows that her parents paid a lot of money to a nun for the adoptive daughter.

How does a life change when someone's history and identity are forcibly taken away? Many thousands of Spaniards have found themselves in this scenario during the last few years. They are called "Niños Robados" - "Stolen Children".

Kronik einer Revolte - Ein Jahr Istanbul
(Chronicle of a Revolt -  One Year Istanbul)

by Biene Pilavci & Ayla Gottschlich

Germany / 83 min - 57 min / Color / HD / Documentary / 2015

"Taksim is everywhere, resistance is everywhere."

Two years ago, in early summer 2013, thousands of mainly younger people from across all political persuasions demonstrated against the destruction of Gezi Park in Istanbul. What began as a protest against a construction project quickly turned into a wider protest against the policies of the Erdogan government. The government violently suppressed the demonstrations in Gezi Park and nearby Taksim Square.

Biene Pilavci and Ayla Gottschlich, two young German-Turkish filmmakers, happened to witness the events and shot images, putting themselves at great personal risk. Still, they decide to stay and continue to follow some of the demonstrators.

Biene Pilavci and Ayla Gottschlich have followed the protagonists of the democracy movement up to the parliamentary elections of August 2014.

CHRONICLE OF A REVOLT is a film about the hope, dreams, fears, and braveness of young Istanbul citizens who are fighting for a self-determined life. For Erdogan they are still "Capulcus“ - scum.

BUY ME!

by Catalina Flórez

Germany / 59 min / Color / HD / Documentary / 2012

Vivian designs lingerie for prostitutes. Together with her partner Michel, she sells her creations to the girls in Holland’s red-light districts who wear these “bikinis” to attract their clients.

Vivian’s long-term relationship with the prostitutes allows the filmmaker Catalina Flórez unusually intimate insights into the mindset and the life of the girls behind the shop windows.

The film shows the human side of what is otherwise considered a morally desolate existence for these women. It describes the search for quick money, freedom, fun, love, and a life between shop windows and relationships, between morals and compulsion; between beauty and age.

A Co-production of av-independents, SWR & Filmakademie BW
Funded by MfG Baden Wuerttemberg

Festivals & Awards

- World Premiere: 45th Hof International Film Festival
- Nominated for best photography, Deutsche Kamerapreis 2012
- Best documentary film, Sehsüchte 2012
- Best editing, Sehsüchte 2012
- Nominated for best documentary, First Steps Award 2012
- BAFICI - Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival, Argentina 2012
- 8th Berlin Directors Lounge, Germany 2012

LA VIDA ES UN TANGO
(LIFE IS A TANGO)

by Catalina Flórez

Germany / 60 min / Color / HD / Documentary / 2008

Article 13: All people are free and equal in law...

“We work, but for them we are beggars anyway” (José, 44)
“I worked since I was twelve” (Ernesto, 16)
“We Columbians have to learn to seize our opportunities” (Lisideth, 18)
“They wanted to kill me. I had to flee to Cartagena” (Arnulfo, 45)
“What I would change in my life? Everything.” (Lucía, 37)
“I survive...and have no fear of nothing and nobody” (Eddy, 50)

...and the government provides for abidance by these laws

A film about the daily struggle at Plaza Santo Domingo.
About the lost faith in Colombia.
And about the strength to preserve the lust for life.